A comparative analysis: acts of cultural genocide in historic Nazi Germany to present day Afghanistan and China

Abstract

Art’s meaning is versatile and forever changing, and it represents cultural heritage and identity. Destroy art, and one can erase the cultural identity of a person or even a specific group. Consequently, art is targeted when an authoritative power intends to commit genocide or more specifically cultural genocide. This research analyzes the perspectives of modern art in Nazi Germany and the ways in which the phenomenon of “degenerate” art evolved throughout the Nazi regime in Europe. The author examines a variety of publications/resources to explore how the attack on modern art unfolded, focusing on studying the ways through which politics, propaganda, and art intertwined during that time. Throughout the examination of various acts of artistic destruction, the author draws connections to modern acts of cultural genocide, taking place in Afghanistan and China. Specifically, the author explores the Taliban’s demolition of two important Buddhist sculptures in 2001 as means of cultural and religious artistic destruction. The paper concludes with a study of the People’s Republic of China and its systematic destruction of mosques and gravesites within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as means of cultural cleansing. This paper examines the ways in which the Uyghur people are being threatened with extinction due to the efforts of the Chinese government. Comparing both present-day acts of human right violations to the events that occurred within Nazi Germany, the author cross-analyzes how politics, propaganda, and art destruction indicates potential cultural genocide.